A new scheme described as “Slimming World for smokers” is aiming to help people ditch the fags by moving to e-cigarattes.

The NHS is advocating e-cigarettes as a way to stop smoking, and Public Health England say that experts have found that they are 95 per cent less harmful than tobacco cigarettes.

Mike Zorab, manager at Up in Smoke

As part of Stoptober, a national drive to help people quit smoking, the NHS has suggested that e-cigarettes can help people quit for good.

Currently, an estimated 2.9m adults in Great Britain use an e-cigarette.

Mike Zorab, 35, general manager at Up In Smoke, in Lancaster Road, Morecambe, used to smoke 40 cigarettes a day, but has been smoke free since New Year’s Eve 2016, which he puts down to using e-cigarettes.

Up In Smoke offers a free “pen type e-cig” to anyone wishing to try it and has launched a ‘Smokebusters’ scheme support service, which encourages people to visit the premises every week and blow into a Carbon Monoxide (CO) and lung age monitor.

Mike explains: “We’ve been backed by Lancashire Quit Squad, which is jointly run by the NHS and Lancashire County Council.

“Lancaster Quit Squad organised for 20 of their staff to come in for a training session to learn more about e-cigarettes.

“The NHS uses e-cigs for smoking cessation, and they’re now referring straight to us as a last resort if patches and gum don’t work. People can come in, fill in a form, there’s a series of questions, and a set of rewards. People have to return every seven days, and if their CO reading has decreased, they get a stamp which can be exchanged for free liquid or vouchers.

“If you blow four or less you’re considered a non-smoker and 13 is a standard smoker.

“But we think four weeks is nowhere near long enough to safely say you’ve quit. It’s too easy to have that drink, or take that phone call, and that’s why the support service is important.

“We also have a lung age monitor, which is something we researched and bought ourselves. It’s a bit like Slimming World for smokers.

“Smokebusters is the ‘aftercare’ that we provide, and we’ve built it up into an online self support group.